Man dies in Saturday crash

HOUMA – A Houma man died in a single-car crash in Dularge early Saturday morning after he ran off the road and hit a utility pole, police said.

The crashed happened around 3:30 a.m. when Christopher Griffin, 24, was driving a 1998 Pontaic Grand Am north on Bayou Dularge Road near Crozier Drive.

Griffin ran off the right side of the road after missing a left-hand curve, police said. He jerked the wheel too hard, sending the car back on the road and then across both lanes, ultimately hitting a utility pole on the left side of the highway, police said.

Griffin, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the car and pronounced dead at the scene, police said. He was the Grand Am’s sole occupant.

Police do not yet know if drugs or alcohol played a part in the crash, but blood-alcohol tests, required by state law in all fatal crashes, are pending.

This is the fourth fatal crash in less than a month that was caused by a driver who overcorrected after running off the road, police said.

The first happened on April 1, when a 22-year-old woman, her 1-year-old son and the unborn child of another driver died in a two-car crash on Grand Caillou Road just outside of Dulac.

The midday crash happened just south of American Boulevard when a 2002 Camry carrying the mother and son veered onto the right-hand shoulder. The driver overcorrected and sent the car into a spin as it crossed the centerline and hit an oncoming Pontiac Grand Am.

The second crash took place just over a week later in Grand Bois, when a Ford Explorer driven by a 25-year-old Chauvin woman ran off a wet road and struck a tree. The three other passengers in the SUV sustained only minor injuries, police said.

The most recent fatal crash happened early Monday morning near Donner when the driver of a 1997 Mercury Mountaineer lost control, overcorrected, ran off the road and hit a tree. Two people were killed in that wreck.

Stepped up enforcement, including DWI checkpoints, are among the tools police plan to use to prevent additional crashes.

Alcohol and drug use aren’t to blame in the first two crashes and the others remain under investigation, but experience has shown that check points serve to remind motorists that police are watching local roads, Hyatt said.

Courier staff writer Mika Edwards can be reached at 857-2202 or mika.edwards@houmatoday.com